Dropout programmer

I'm dropping out of college after this semester (was going for cs degree) and I taught myself python and I'm going to start learning c#. How much more shitty will it be to find a programming job without a degree

It depends entirely on your attitude and effort.

Any position that goes through an HR person will be closed off to you. HR people need to validate their positions so they only accept people with formal credentials to interviews

if you think college is hard then wait until you have to work in a factory 12 hours a day 6 day a week for minimum wage.especially with your loan.my advice to you is to shut the fuck up,accept that you not gonna have a life for 3-4 years,study like crazy then get a comfy job with amazing pay.believe me if you drop out you gonna regret it.

It's not that college is hard I feel like I'm wasting my time... in college it's 4 years to learn how to program with java??? I taught myself python within a month

thats great and all but without a degree,you are still fucked.also you may learned python and java in your free time but you are not gonna learn uni math in your free time.or algorithms.i could do the sum the first 2 000 000 primes problem since i was 15 yet i still went through college.

>they are going to teach me java for four years
If this is true you are going to a scam school

this

Where are you going, OP? It sure as hell isn't MIT or UVA.

Which online school are you "dropping out" of?

Do you know people already? Because that's the real point of college. Anyone with a couple brain cells and learn programming in a minuscule amount of time, it's the networking and people you meet that will help you in the long run. If you have this already, you're wasting your money.

not really i plan on contributing to open source shit and putting whatever programs i make public to get exposure

>i could do the sum the first 2 000 000 primes problem since i was 15

Answer the question about where you're going. I haven't even heard of a college teaching java for all four years. That's insane.

You can write an algorithm that can find 2.000.000 primes instead of 4? Amazing if you ask me.

Stay in school. At this point if you don't have a portfolio ready to show on the spot and prospective offers you have no business dropping out. Suck it up, network, suck your teachers dicks, built your portfolio ASAP, do whatever you have to do to get noticed. Take advantage of your school's resources. They're there for a reason.

its a UW school. i was more so explaining taking english, sciences, public speaking, etc feels like a waste

Do you know how networking work?

Do you know how OSes work?

Do you know how databases work?

Do you know how to write an interpreter?

yea i plan on doing alot of open source stuff and making my own programs to add to my portfolio while working 40 hours a week at my current job

with this reading comprehension skills i have to ask you how old are you?

Oh so it's not four years of java, but 50% non-related courses and 25% required and 25% electives.

That's standard user. Standard. And yes it is a waste. Just wait until you have to take a health or diversity class.

at least in germany you're basically fucked without a degree; the only option would be becoming a freelancer

but is it a stretch to say that if i contribute to open source shit and build up my portfolio that i could have an entry level job in around a year instead of the 4 years college takes

As long as you keep your ear close to the ground and go to job fairs and meet people you could be fine.

A CS degree tells your employer that you have spent countless hours learning, practicing, and becoming good at what they want you to do. Whether or not you can learn it on your own doesn't matter to them unless you can prove it somehow.

What if I tell you I'm your father?

Listen I'm just going to level with you. Yes you'll be able to get a job, but without that stupid piece of paper you will eventually hit a hard cap on how far you can advance because eventually they will just start passing you up for promotions because you don't have a degree. So if you are fine being a low level code monkey you're entire life then you'll be fine but if you aspire for greater things you'll eventually find yourself back in college anyways.

Do you have a gf?

Those classes aren't a waste. Being able to effectively communicate is essential to any work you may do. Not every compooper job is SEO, and you need to know enough math and science to at least be able to articulate the way your programs functions and work with other experts that need you to write programs.

dad,please go back to elementary school.

>The first 2.000.000 primes
>The primes in first 2.000.000 integers
Gee, I wonder what is the difference??
Go back to high school, retard.

(Not OP)
This is the exact opposite of what people in industry have told me. They insist that it makes it very difficult to get a job to begin with, but once you've got a couple years experience, that's all anyone looks at and degrees become irrelevant.

>A CS degree tells your employer that you have spent countless hours learning, practicing, and becoming good at what they want you to do.
No it really doesn't. CS degrees (around here at least) involve fuck all programming and even when they do it's invariably in groups, allowing weaker programmers to coast by on their friends. Plenty of people can get to the end of fourth year scarcely able to do Fizzbuzz.

what in the holy mary fuck are you talking about?
collect the prime numbers from 0 till 2 000 000 in an array using a for loop with an if else inside then sum them with another for loop.what cant you understand in this like literally how old are you 12?go the fuck back to Sup Forums

Holy shit, not only (you) can't differentiate between simple sentences, (you) can't also read what is in front of (you). It wasn't shills that was shitting up this board, it was fucktards like (you).

this much damage controlling.go back to the gpu war threads "big boy"

...

To some a degree means you lived off daddy's money for four years wasting your time. That's essentially what it is now for a non-Ivy degree.

If you really are talented and motivated, yes you are wasting your time and money. But if you were, then I daresay you wouldn't be on Sup Forums making a thread about it, you'd be doing what you allegedly want to do with the rest of your life, which is programming.

Get off this shitty website and go write something. We'll test it for you and tell you the truth. But stop wasting time, unless there's something else going on.

kek you are a retard enjoy being hobo,

I managed to pull it off but I'm legitimately better at it than 95% of people

Also my salary is lower than what it would be if I just sucked it up and graduated from Visual Studio school like a good goy

YMMV

Why not just sum+=prime?

>haha I may not be competent enough to work in the field but at least I have a gf

any advice youd give? like what should be in my portfolio, how much should i contribute to open source etc

nah you should extend the ICollectible interface for that

dunno if bait but you're a fucking retard and I hope you do drop out and you inevitably end up working at a McDonald's for the rest of your life because you think that all it takes to get a job is knowing a bit of C# and Python.

If you can't handle college you won't be able to handle a job.

Grow up and learn some responsibility

>extend
What.
When did I even mention Java? The assignment asks for the sum of all primes under 2 million, why not just sum each prime to a total whenever you find them?

thats how i do it too.when i already have the array with the prime numbers collected i do:
ulong SumOfPrimes = 0;
for (int i; i < Primes.Length;i++)
{
SumOfPrimes += Primes[i];
}

[spoiler] sorry i dont know how to docode blocks on 4chinz [/spoiler]

>No it doesn't
>Anecdotal evidence

or you could read the thread instead of coming in like an autist. i said im not dropping out because of college being difficult, rather im dropping out because i think i could find a job within a year if i contribute to open source codes and build my portfolio up. 1 year > 4 years of college

Otherwise how would you even know how long the array should be? Sure, there's some sort-of-repetable occurrance of primes, but it's still a wild assumption. A list would be better for this task, but again, why.

disclaimer: I'm from Canada so the environment might be different where you are. we don't have a college racket here and AFAIK that also reflects on the community so you might have a harder time than me all things considered.

for starters, know what the fuck you're talking about. learn as much as you possibly can. as others have said, HR people will probably just bin your resume. your ticket into the field is by making the right impression on actual engineers.

prioritize getting relevant experience over having a dream job. work on certifications also, those are great to have.

you can accept a less-than-stellar job offer (eg help desk) if it lands you into a team where mobility is possible. this means help desk for a company with a fairly big IT department is OK. that's what I did; initially answered the phone and now work as a software dev + occasionally Linux sysadmin full time, because I was able to perform those tasks when the need arose. shit like Geek Squad and call centers are dead ends, obviously.

once you're actually INTO the field and have some contacts, you may rise through the ranks strictly via networking but that's largely circumstantial and it's best to have other options (eg certs and shit).

leave yourself a door back into education. you might have or want to go back to college for multiple reasons. finish your semester with the best grades you can even if you decide to drop out.

Have you got anything better?

yeah you're gonna find yourself a nice call center job because no one is going to hire you over the BA student who understands the theory behind CS

ive heard many kids who only have a degree are barely competent in the single language they know... i would be coherent in many languages and have code that I've written i could show employers

Regardless of location, earning a degree in CS shows that you took and passed classes where you understand the foundation for CS and theory, and if you aren't a retard and graduate with a 3.5>, recruiters will suck your cock and start you off with bigger salaries as compared to a code monkey that is self taught and has to work his way up

ive heard many kids who dont have a degree that drop out and end up eating shit for the rest of their life

this is correct

I make 4$ an hour less than the CS grad I work with does and we do the same fucking work

being a dropout and having a job is possible but honestly I don't recommend it

and 90% of those deadbeats had no ambition

I'm not doubting that recruiters will believe you are more competent if you have a degree. I'm doubting that they're right.

I've carried talentless hacks through several consecutive years by just taking the group project away from them and coming back with it done solo. I have spoken to these people at length and seen them balk at taking a module because the projects in it required hundreds of lines of code to solve. A CS degree alone does not force you to do enough stuff to put you anywhere near being good.

any advice youd give? what did you do in order to get the job you have considering you have no degree?

if you had ambition you would realize that you could do excel in your college/uni career (grades, networking, research) and do so much better than dropping out and being a hermit working on open source projects and being a deplorable with no CS background

>deplorable
Oh dear...

doubting that having a high gpa in a stem field doesn't indicate that you work your ass off?

once again anecdotal evidence on how a degree is irrelevant. just because you had a bunch of retards in your special groupwork uni doesn't mean it's the standard that all people working towards a CS degree are under qualified than the self taught dropout

If people with degrees are that but how bad are you? Explain decorators in python if you know the language

>doubting that having a high gpa in a stem field doesn't indicate that you work your ass off?
I'm sure it's a hallmark of hard work. I'm not talking about hard work, I'm talking about competency.

>it's the standard that all people working towards a CS degree are under qualified than the self taught dropout
I don't think that. I just think that if you assume it means the person is a competent programmer you're in for a bad time.

>He thinks sophomore through senior years are like intro classes

Employers would rather have a drone that operates on memory over a creative person as creative people are more of a risk

It'll be easy as fuck if you have any charisma. Get your foot in the door at a few places and build up some references and experience asap and youll be fine.
I was basically in your shoes 3 years ago and now I'm a pen tester on the CISO path.

Have you considered going back and finishing school?

How can you lean java for four years?
Logic...OOP...Advanced OOP...what else?

That's all you're taught programming wise in 4 years

this

Managers want people who will do what they say so they can continue to charge $120/hr for them. They sure as hell don't want really smart and creative people, because they'll get bored and quit or, worse, start running their own business while working on site.

Even in interviews, hide your power level. The last thing you want to do is intimidate your boss in an interview because you won't get hired at all.

t. self-employed

You taught yourself, that's cool and all, but are you using the best practices? I'm not a programmer, but I know that there are times you write a script out and you can leave exploits.

UW Milwaukee was a waste of time when I was going for CS 2 years ago

Do a boot camp if u want to fast track into a job with network

Otherwise stick with it and make friends you'll still make 73k going that route versus bad negotiation pay without the BS degree in CS

> cs degree is about learning how to program
You did not even understand CS 101, either that, or you were being scammed, maybe you are right to quit.

Don't worry, it will be fine.

I'm going to quit my dev job and become a basement dwelling neet again in order to work on my game full time. I need a career break and it's time for a change (am I completely screwed if I do this?)

I've only seen boot camps in larger cities otherwise I would

- You have no work experience
- You don't finish what you start
- You can't prove that you know how to program

Don't drop out of something before ypu have something else already in line.

If you store them in an array, it'll save some loops if you want to find the sum of primes less than another number.

Droppout OP uni is a scam anyway,just have something to present in that portfolio or start working on something to impress suits,

there physics majors who dont know shit to CS theory and do fine in programming

- "You have no work experience"
in programming thats true and as ive mentioned multiple times in this thread i plan on writing code and contributing in open source projects to get that experience.
- "You don't finish what you start"
based off me feeling college is a waste for programmers you think im a lasy sack of shit? I taught myself python so i guess youre 1 example is already irrelevant.
- "You can't prove that you know how to program"
once again if you read the thread ive talked about contributing to open source and adding my own coding to my porfolio

not sure if youre a downie or shitty troll

God I fucking hate you shitters. CS is not about programming. You study CS because you want to learn how things operate at a lower level. Go fuck off to Software Engineering or IT if you want to learn how to program.

CS classes teach some programming because you learn CS topics through programming.

It's not anyone else's fault but your own for not understanding the difference and getting upset that CS isn't teaching you enough """"programming"""".

aww does me feeling that 4 years is a waste when i can teach myself and be employed in 1 year bother you that much? no idea why your emotional about this but whatever

Not op but I know these things and have a gf, they aren't mutually exclusive, don't insult others because you have confirmation bias.

Nah, I'm upset that you're confusing the two, you fucking inbred hick. It goes to show you don't know what you're talking about.

And I'm getting my PhD in a few months because I want to teach, so no, those four years wasn't a waste.

Please if you didn.t make it that does not mean he will become the same fucking full blown need as you , please go fucking kill yourself with you 12 h work per day.. Fucking pice of shit bastard.

im not confusing anything. I stated i feel i could teach myself to be proficient in programming far faster then a 4 year degree would take. Never did i say "wahhhh why am i not learning how to code more in class wahhh"

I doubt you'll be getting a PhD with zero reading skills

My brother in law dropped out of community college after a year, and he's working at Google now.
It's definitely possible.

Lmao are you retarded?
>in college it's 4 years to learn how to program with java??? I taught myself python within a month

You're complaining that you aren't learning enough programming languages while taking a CS degree.

>college is so dum i majored in english and i'm not learning enough maths :(((((((((((((((((((((((

if youre actually serious could you tell me the steps he took if you know at all? Not really in regards of how to get hired at google but how did he get the exposure he needed (like working on open source)?

I'm telling the truth, but I haven't talked to him in that much detail about what steps he took to land the job.
I do know that if you can manage to land a job at one of the big 4 though, you're basically set for life.

For example, he worked on the Google glass project, and when that got scrapped he moved to Apple for a little under a year. Then he decided to move back to google and they took him back no questions asked.
Sorry I couldn't be of more help user. I wish you luck though.

*weren't

LMAOOOOO NOW I KNOW YOURE A 12 YEAR OLD PRETENDING TO BE SOMEBODY THEY ARE NOT...

>in college it's 4 years to learn how to program with java??? I taught myself python within a month

Once again (because as i stated earlier your reading skills are basically zero) I WAS MAKING THE POINT: WHY SPEND 4 YEARS TO GET A JOB I COULD GET IT IN A YEAR


im done talking to you if you cant read basic sentences that have a straight-foreword point kid.

Enjoy working at McDonalds with that shit tier intelligence, user. He was arguing that you're ragging on college because of your fundamental misunderstanding between CS and SE.

mfw ive had a job better than mcdonalds doing data entry since i was 14.....

1) It depends on the country. Some countries do employ programmers without any degree a lot, others make it harder for people without a degree.

2) WebDev is the way to go. If you have no degree, you're probably better of with python+javascript+html+css than C#, since C# is a "big company language" and they (probably) won't hire you.

3) Get a portfolio. Make your own website. Make sites for your friends. Just get some shit done to prove you are the man a company should hire.

4) Get the low hanging fruits. Java, JavaScript, Python. There are a lot of Jobs out there.

>sum the first 2 000 000 primes problem since i was 15
I thought it was the sum of primes below 2000000

i live in America if that helps and since ive learned python you think i should learn java next?

I hope any of this is remotely true.

If I filled a site full of all the snippets I've randomly coded over the years would I get some pleb-tier job? Does this happen in the real world?

It depends on what you want to do.

Freelancer is always an option, because you "hire yourself". So personally I would start developing websites with python (backend) and some frontend shit (obviously JavaScript and CSS and HTML). And get good makes some bucks and then get hired because you have the skills you need.

Java would be more if you plan to get into a bigger company. I'm not saying it's not possible, but it will probably be harder.

The former is simply a matter of motivation, if you make a website every few month then it's only a matter of time until you will get hired. PLUS you will already earn some money (not that much, of course) by freelancing. It's the simpler way.

But maybe just check what skills are "hot" where you live. Or go to some programmer dudes and ask him politely what skills you should learn to get hired. Many programmers will probably understand you.

Well, there are two skills you need to prove your empoyer:
1) You are smart enough (i.e. have a conversation, know a few languages and so on).

2) You get shit done.


Obviously a college dropout should focus on the second point. Because even if you are smart as shit, they will assume you can't finish things.

Some code snippets are fine, just try to make bigger projects and FINISH THEM.

It takes about a year to get enough practice with all web dev tools to be employable (as a rule of thumb), so be patient. Just keep on coding and don't give up. Make something like a chessgame in Python or a funny website or..

It doesn't really matter what you do, just keep on doing things and put them on GitHub.

Or maybe do an intership. It would be better to get it NOW (while you aren't a dropout yet) though..

>3) Get a portfolio. Make your own website. Make sites for your friends. Just get some shit done to prove you are the man a company should hire.

Examples of things I should implement in the website to show I'm employee material?

>4) Get the low hanging fruits. Java, JavaScript, Python. There are a lot of Jobs out there.

Same question. I don't know what kind of projects to make to demonstrate what I know.